Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
3. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 2, wherein the controller is connected to the first power switch via a first charge control line and the second power switch via a second charge control line.
4. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 3, wherein the controller controls the charging of the first battery cell by sending the one or more control signals to the first power switch via the first charge control line, the one or more control signals configured to cause the first power switch to open or close the first charging circuit.
5. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 4 further comprising, a charger connected to the first charging circuit via the first power switch and the second charging circuit via the second power switch.
6. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 5, wherein when the one or more control signals cause the first power switch to close, the charger delivers power to the first battery cell.
7. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 5, wherein when the one or more control signals cause the first power switch to open, the charger ceases to deliver power to the first battery cell.
9. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 8, wherein the first cell protection circuit monitors operating parameters of the first battery cell including voltage and current at the first battery cell.
10. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 9, wherein the first cell protection circuit opens the first charging circuit upon detecting voltage over a first threshold value, a voltage below a second threshold value, or a current over a third threshold value to prevent power delivery to the first battery cell.
11. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 9, wherein the gas gauge is configured to determine a capacity of the first battery cell based on a temperature of the first battery cell.
12. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 11, wherein the gas gauge is configured to receive the operating parameters from the first cell protection circuit.
13. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 12, wherein the gas gauge is connected to the controller via the data bus, and the gas gauge is further configured to transmit at least one of the temperature, capacity, and operating parameters of the first battery cell to the controller via the data bus.
14. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the capacity of the first battery cell is below a threshold value.
15. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to send an instruction to the first charging circuit to begin charging upon determining the capacity of the first battery cell is below the threshold value.
16. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first charging circuit and second charging circuit are removable from the distributed battery cell charging circuit.
17. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 1, wherein the second charging circuit includes at least one additional battery cell.
18. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 1, wherein the first charging circuit includes a resistor to increase an impedance of the first charging circuit.
19. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 18, wherein a resistance value of the resistor increases the impedance of the first charging circuit such that the impedance of the first charging circuit is the same as an impedance of the second charging circuit.
20. The distributed battery cell charging circuit of claim 1 further comprising a third charging circuit.
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August 22, 2023
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